Christopher Rhodes

As the political fallout continues over President Joe Biden's decision to issue a pardon for his son Hunter, clearing him of tax evasion and gun charges, calls are growing for Biden to continue to use his power to grant clemency to others who deserve or need a second chance.

President Joe Biden announced Thursday that he was granting clemency to nearly 1,500 people, a record number for a single day. This act will clear the sentences of a number of people who had previously been moved from prison to house arrest during the COVID-19 pandemic. The president also pardoned 39 individuals who were convicted of nonviolent criminal offenses. The moves comes as Biden is fielding calls to use his clemency powers more broadly before he leaves office.

With just over one month left before President Joe Biden hands the presidency back to President-elect Donald Trump , immigration reemerges as a top political issue. Now, a group of senators and activists are urging Biden to take action on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival s (DACA) program to protect millions of vulnerable individuals who could face the risk of deportation.

Police in a New York jurisdiction strip-searched every person they arrested, as well as people who were not placed under arrest, according to a Department of Justice report. The illegal searches were part of a more extensive set of rights abuses and illegal activities committed by members of the Mount Vernon Police Department and demonstrate a larger pattern of systemic violations on the part of police forces across the country.

President-elect Donald Trump ‘s election win in November has shaken up politics in the United States and clearly impacted other countries, including neighboring Canada . Trump's threat to place a massive tariff on goods from Canada has complicated an already shaky political situation for the country's prime minister, Justin Trudeau Some of those criticizing him for not standing up to Trump are now calling for the Canadian leader to step down as Liberal Party leader, which would effectively end his career as prime minister.

One of President Joe Biden's priorities during his last weeks in office has been appointing federal judges . Biden and Senate Democrats are attempting to match the number of judges appointed under the previous Trump administration and counterbalance the conservatives that President-elect Donald Trump will nominate during his upcoming term with these lifetime appointments. Along the way, Biden has solidified several records set during his administration, which has done more than any single presidential term to diversify the judiciary in multiple ways.

With Donald Trump returning to the White House and the Supreme Court dominated by conservatives, the Republican Party looks poised to wield significant power in Washington, as it also won slim majorities in both houses of Congress in November's election. However, that political dominance is now being threatened by a possible defection by a GOP congresswoman to focus on an outside agency created to push Trump's agenda.

Herschel Walker , famed running back turned unsuccessful Republican Senate candidate, is not done with politics. On Tuesday, President-elect Donald Trump nominated Walker as the next U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas. The appointment would fill a long-vacant position and continue Trump's long association with Walker.

As the end of the year approaches, a budgeting crisis threatens to shut down the federal government just before the Christmas holiday. Under pressure from Donald Trump and Elon Musk , who has emerged as a main adviser to the president-elect, Republicans in Congress are rejecting a budget negotiated by the Republican speaker of the House to keep the government running. With time running short to come up with a new bill, a government shutdown may hit this weekend.

Over the next month, one million people will be receiving money from the Internal Revenue Service . The payments are being made to deliver money that was left unclaimed from the economic stimulus payments made by the federal government in 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic